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Divine Mercy Celebration

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Divine Mercy Celebration

Pope St. John Paul II established the feast the week after Easter in the year 2000.  

He re-emphasized its message in the resurrection context of Easter: Jesus said to St. Faustina one day: "Humanity will never find peace until it turns with trust to Divine Mercy."  

Divine Mercy gets to the heart of the Scriptures.  According to the Catechism “The Gospel is the revelation in Jesus Christ of God’s mercy to sinners.” 

Jesus told St. Faustina that “Now is the time of mercy.  Now is a time of extraordinary mercy.”

How to prepare for Divine Mercy Sunday?

  1.     Deepen your faith and Trust in Jesus
  2.     Receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation
  3.     Perform Works of Mercy
  4.     Pray—Plead for God’s Mercy
  5.     Study Your Faith
  6.       Share Your Faith with Others

The special graces of Mercy Sunday were promised directly by our Lord, through a prophetic revelation given to St. Faustina (see Diary of St. Faustina, 699). The Church has not officially ruled that this particular promise was an authentic supernatural revelation (and no Catholic is required to believe it as a matter of faith), but the Church has discerned, in various ways, that there is nothing that violates Catholic doctrine in this promise.

The other main differences between the "special graces" promised by Jesus for Divine Mercy Sunday, and the plenary indulgence offered by the Church for special devotions to The Divine Mercy on Mercy Sunday:

1) The special graces that our Lord promised come solely through the reception of Holy Communion on that day, in a state of grace, with trust in The Divine Mercy. Any plenary indulgence granted by the Church, involves the fulfilment of a number of conditions, including prayer for the pope's intentions, confession and Holy Eucharist, and the carrying out of the special indulgenced work (in this case: participating in public devotions to The Divine Mercy on Mercy Sunday itself).

2) The special graces promised by our Lord for Mercy Sunday can be received by a soul in a state of grace, but with imperfect love for God, and imperfect contrition for sin—as long as the soul merely trusts in the Mercy of God, and clings to Him because of His promised benefits. A plenary indulgence, however, can only be obtained through the performance of an indulgenced work as an expression of pure love for God. If the intentions of one's indulgenced work are not pure then the indulgence obtained will be only partial, not plenary.

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